Improvement in children s carriages



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 O. MATHER.

Childrens Carriage. No. 48.821. Patented July 18,1865

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

0. MATHER.

Childrens Carriage.

' Patented July 18, 1865 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORVILLE MATHER, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CHILDRENS CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,821, dated July 18, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORVILLE IVIATHER, of Newport, Campbell county, Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Constructing Ghildrens Carriages; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in the adoption of the suspension principle in the construction of childrens carriages, by which plan or mode I secure great ease and com fort to the little occupant, partly arising from the great elasticity and freedom of vertical oscillation, while the absence of side swaygreatly reduces the danger of upsetting.

To the above advantages may be added the strikingly unique and elegant ensemble of the vehicle.

Figure 1 represents, by side elevation, acoachformed body suspended on my plan. Fig. 2 shows my improvement applied to a barouche. Fig.3 is a perspective view of the springs, axle-tree, and check-brace.

In the most improved form of my invention the body A is wholly suspended from a pair of C-springs, B B, formed of a single strip of ash, hickory, or other tough and elastic wood, about nine feet long and somewhat tapered at its ends. The strip B B is first bent horizontally at is middle to a semicircle or rounded square form of about fourteen inches diameter, and the two ends are then bent upward and over a mold of any required height to form about two-thirds of a circle. To the said piece BB, about twenty inches from its front, the axle-tree G is fastened, while a bracket, H, depending from the said front portion of the pieceB B, affords journal-bearing for the front wheel. The pieces B B, G, and H, together with the tongue and wheels, comprise the entire running-gear. The springs B B terminate in metallic loops or eyes E, by which they are bolted to the top of the carriage-body, on opposite sides thereof. In the coach form these bolts are secured in the lintel, while in the barouche form they enter the loop-irons to which the bows F are fastened. In the most complete form of my invention the body is thus wholly suspended from the springs B B as its only and entire means of support.

I secure an exclusively rising and sinking oscillation of the body by hinging or linking to the middle of the axle-tree a check-brace of iron wire, which, extending obliquely forward in the form of two branches, D D, is jointed or hinged to the bottom of the body near its respective sides.

I have selected for illustration a simple and effective embodiment of my invention, but do not propose to restrict the improvement to the precise form herein represented, so long as the same ends are secured by means substantially equivalent. For example, the check-brace may be either of metal, as described, or of wood; and it may consist of either the single branched piece represented or of two diverging pieces; or the check-brace may diverge from the body rearward to the axle, instead of forward from the axle to the body.

In a form like Fig. 1, possessing very elevated points of suspension, the check-brace may be connected to the body by means of snap-bolts'or books or other easily-disengaged fastening, and being cast loose from the body, the latter may be vibrated to and fro in the manner ofa swing; or the check-brace may take the form of springs,whose rear extremities being bolted to the axle-tree, their front extremities may assist in the support of the body; or an elliptical or other form of spring between the axle-tree and the body may assist or relieve the springs B B.

The piece B B may consist of steel or of steel and iron combined. The tongue or handle J may be capable of transposal front to back, or vice versa, at will.

I claim herein as new and of my invention 1. The mode of supporting the body of childrens carriages from points of suspension above the centers of gravity-of the same when loaded, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with the above mode of hanging the body of childrens carriages, the check-brace D D, or its equivalent, substantially as and for the object stated.

ORVILLE MATHER.

Attest:

W. R. MCOAR'IY, M. D. HANOVER. 

